In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, the author uses allusions to stress and reinforce the story he conveys. The method with which he supports his story using themes is by connecting the events and ideas in the book to the ideas of our present. With this, he is showing that the warnings and events in his book have already been nearby in the past and present and that in the future, things may get worse. There are three major themes in this book. One theme is censorship, where books and intellectualism are being forced away from the public. Another theme is the enforcement of ignorance and the deprivation of knowledge from the public. Montag is in a battle with the firemen to prevent the destruction of knowledge. The third theme is the prevention of intellectual freedom. Montag is trying to achieve the freedom to read books by fighting against all of society. By using allusions, Ray Bradbury accentuates the themes in his novel.

The first theme, censorship, is the leitmotif of the book. It is a great concern in Montag’s life. Montag feels that it is a grave danger that the people are facing without even knowing about it. The books that are being censored contain knowledge and important information that has been passed down through many generations. With the books being burned, people are resorting to watching television in the parlors all day and going into a virtual world, and becoming useless technology addicts. With parlors and Seashells, people are forgetting and ignoring the importance of books. Ray Bradbury is able to connect this theme to events of the past. Montag is reading from a book kept by the fireman to support their cause: “Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin.” (Bradbury 34). The quotation is talking about a famous figure that had an idea of censoring British works to ensure patriotism in his fellow companions. In Fahrenheit 451 the government is also censoring books and their goal is to keep all the people leveled in order for everybody to be happy. This book shows what catastrophic consequences could result from pursuing the course of censorship. Beatty says to Montag to support burning of books: “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it.” (Bradbury 59).  In “Black Sambo”, by Helen Bannerman, black people would be offended because of the racial slur “sambo”. In the other book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, black people are being described as being tortured by white people, which is not pleasant to white people. Both of these books serve as examples that, since all people are different, books only cause harm and offense to some of them and, therefore, need to be censored and destroyed.

The burning of books takes knowledge from the public. Montag and Faber understand this very well and are fighting against the government and society, which supports the government, to bring back books. Beatty cites Alexander Pope: “Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.” (Bradbury106). Piera is a place in Greece with muses dwelling there and Beatty wants Montag and other people to be far away from where muses reside. Beatty is referring to Montag as being intoxicated from reading books. This shows that the government is trying to take away knowledge and keep the people ignorant. This also shows hypocrisy of government because Beatty, a member of a ruling class, possesses lots of knowledge while thinking that other people have no right to knowledge.

Reading books is the basis for creating new pieces of art, books and scientific ideas. When the government is burning books it is destroying creativity and thus taking away the people’s intellectual freedom. Montag falls upon a line from a poem “Dreamthorpe” by Alexander Smith while burning a house full of books: “Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine” (Bradbury 37). This allusion expresses precisely the situation of no intellectual freedom. There is no longer any movement to society which is enveloped with meaningless entertainment their whole life. There is no sign of creative thinking or any intellectual development, so time has actually stopped, the days passing endlessly and pointlessly.

Even though Bradbury is writing about a time in the future, he is also keeping in mind what is happening in his present and past. Technology is evolving and people are beginning to abstain from reading books and become entertainment addicts. The many literary allusions that Bradbury includes in this novel help portray the themes and events in the book. Some allusions directly relate to the themes while others refer indirectly to the book’s events by relating to the cited author’s biographies. Allusions help backup the theme of censorship by mentioning attempts of censorship in the past. Other Allusions help the antagonists of the book by substantiating their views: the idea of burning books is validated by desire to save people from getting negative emotions while reading the books. Allusions help Bradbury show that attempts to take away knowledge and deprive people of intellectual freedom are not new, they have already been demonstrated in our time and in the past. Maybe, instead of warning us about the future, Bradbury is trying to open our eyes on what is already going on.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray, Fahrenheit 451, New York, Balantine Books, 1991